On Glorious Wings

by Stephen Coonts

  Jim got up from the box, gathered together the scraps from his lunch and went out of the tent to throw them in the trash can.

  “Did you know that Hoxey took President Roosevelt for a ride in an airplane in St. Louis?” he asked when he returned.

  “No, I didn’t,” said Bill.

  “Well he did, and President Roosevelt enjoyed the trip, too. That being the case, you shouldn’t worry about your trip. When an ex-president of the United States is willing to risk his life with Hoxey, you should have confidence enough to take a flight with him.”

  “I am not worrying about the risk,” said Bill. “I just didn’t see anything to hold on to. How long will we have to stay up in order to break the record?”

  “The present record is a little less than two hours, so if you stay up for two hours a new record will be made.”

  “Will that little engine take three of us off the ground?” anxiously inquired Bill.

  “You’d be surprised at what one of these little engines will do,” replied Jim. “Why, one of these engines took a plane and a nine-hundred-pound load in the plane off the ground. It seems like a big load to put on a thirty horsepower engine, but the plane not only left the ground but also stayed in the air for some time. Frank Coffyn was piloting the plane at the time. The airplane ran quite a distance before it took off, but Coffyn made a beautiful getaway. The load that Hoxey is going to carry this afternoon will not be anywhere near as heavy as that.”

  Hoxey joined them during the conversation.

  “Are you getting squeamish about going up?” he asked when Jim had finished speaking.

  “I should say not,” emphatically responded the boy.

  “If you are,” said Hoxey, “there are plenty of others who would be only too glad to take your place.”

  “I particularly desired to take you on this trip for two reasons,” continued Hoxey. “First, Wilbur Wright promised you a ride. Second, you are light in weight. Naturally the lighter my passengers, the more gasoline I can carry and the longer I can stay in the air.”

  “Who will the third passenger be?” asked Bill.

  “Another chap about your weight by the name of Ned Erickson.”

  While they were talking the plane was being rolled out onto the flying field and the engine was warmed up. Bill stood gazing at the plane, but his thoughts were far away. He was trying to anticipate how he was going to feel while flying. His thoughts were interrupted by Jim, who touched his arm and pointed toward the hangar. There Bill noticed Hoxey, who was motioning for him to come into the tent. Bill entered the tent and was given a sweater and a pair of goggles.

  “Take off your coat and put this sweater on,” said Hoxey. “You will be riding in the wind and you may get cold. After I once leave the ground, I don’t want to come down until I have broken the record. You had better turn your cap backwards before you put your goggles on. Here comes Ned now.”

  After a few words of introduction, the three who were to be fellow passengers on an epoch-making flight went out to the plane together. They had but reached it when word was received from the starter that the plane must leave the ground in ten minutes. Ten minutes may be a long time in some cases, but with Bill it passed rapidly. He rather doubted his ability to enjoy the ride in spite of the bold front that he had put up.

  Hoxey motioned for Bill to get into the plane first. Bill climbed up onto the seats, over their backs and knelt down as close to the backs of the seats as he could. Then Hoxey and Ned climbed into the seats in front of him. Bill had but little to hold on to as the backs of the seats were hard to grasp. However, by kneeling very low, he could run his arms through the braces which held up the back of one of the seats. His was a cramped position at best, but he made up his mind that if they had to come down before the two hours were up, it would be through no fault of his, even if he were paralyzed when they landed.

  Hoxey gave a signal, the men released their hold on the wings and the plane rolled slowly over the ground. For a while Bill did not think that they were making any headway at all, but he looked ahead and saw that the distance to the trees which lined the field was rapidly diminishing. He looked at Hoxey and was confident that there was no cause for worry, for he sat there as unconcerned as if they were sitting around in the tent.

  Bill looked ahead again. The trees were very much closer. It was not till then that Bill realized they had left the ground. There had been no bumps, no change of speed, in fact nothing to tell when the plane had left the ground and was flying through the air.

  The smooth grass-covered flying field seemed to drop farther and farther beneath them as they approached the trees. Bill was sure that the plane would hit them, for it was still well below the highest branches. Just when he expected to hit, he closed his eyes and waited for the shock, but it never came. He opened his eyes and saw that they were high above a long open field. The trees were no longer in sight.

  The air was rough and every once in a while the plane would drop several yards and then suddenly rise with a bump. He had a strong tendency to get air sick, the flying was so rough. He looked at Ned, who at that moment had turned and was smiling. That made Bill feel better, but the bumps still bothered him. They came with too much frequency for him to enjoy the ride.

  By this time the plane was about two hundred feet in the air. Bill could see far across country and saw several small villages. The roads stretched out beneath in all directions. He picked up the road leading to Flower City and tried to follow it, but lost it in a clump of trees. He saw a stream that wound around through the meadow lands and woods like a silver ribbon. He began to take note of other details which unfolded themselves below as the plane traveled along. Automobiles moved along the roads, here and there people were walking, and off to the right was a farmer working in a field. How small they all looked! Near the farmer was a small dark object which moved rapidly across the ground. Could it be a dog? Bill looked closer. It was a dog; he could see it playing around its master.

  The plane circled and came back over the aviation field. Bill picked out the different tents. He wondered if Cap Baldwin and Charlie Hamilton were watching the plane. He suddenly realized that he had recovered from his feeling of sickness. He was actually enjoying the ride. It was such a clean way to travel, no dust or dirt and no cinders like there were when riding on a railroad train.

  The whole country stretched out beneath him like a large map. He picked out the different roads over which he had ridden on his motorcycle. As they made another large circle, he saw Garden City and at last Flower City, but he was too far away to recognize his own house. He longed to ask Hoxey to fly closer to Flower City so that he could get a good look at it from the air and perhaps wave to Bob, who might be out, but there was no way of making himself heard above the roar of the engine.

  Hoxey pointed to a watch hanging from a strut, and Bill saw that they had been in the air for a half hour. For the first time he felt cramped in his knees. He changed his position as much as he could in order to get relief. It was only when he thought about his cramped position that he realized how tired his legs were. When he looked over the wide expanse of country beneath him, he forgot his physical discomforts.

  They passed over the Hempstead aviation field and Bill tried to find the place where the model race had started. He followed the line of hangars with his eyes and was astonished at the ease with which he could identify the spot. Then he looked for the place where his model had landed when it had won the distance race and was more astonished at the comparatively short distance that it had covered.

  In the meantime the bumps were getting steadily worse. It seemed sometimes as if the bottom had dropped out of the air and the plane must surely crash to the ground, but each time the plane would catch some solid air and come back upward with a thump. Bill thought that those terrific jolts must surely break the wings off the plane, but there was no indication of any such dire results. A look at Hoxey, who was sitting calmly piloting the plane, restored his confidence.


  Once the plane jumped upward so fast that he was sure that his knees would be forced through the wing. He had no more than recovered from that bump before the plane dropped from under him and his knees left the wing. Hanging on only with his hands, he found himself struggling to keep from hitting the top wing. The plane hit solid air again and he took a new grip on the seat brace.

  Hoxey turned the plane and headed back toward the aviation field. Either the bumps were not now so bad or he was becoming accustomed to them. Hoxey turned in his seat and said something, but Bill could not hear a sound. He judged by the movement of Hoxey’s lips that he was asking if it was too rough and whether or not he should land the plane. Bill, remembering that Hoxey had said that under no circumstances did he want to land until they had been in the air for at least two hours, shook his head “No.” Hoxey smiled. “Evidently,” thought Bill. “I made the proper answer.”

  Hoxey was still looking to the rear when the plane made a violent jump and Bill started to slide toward the rear of the plane. The seat brace of Ned’s seat had given way. Bill grabbed for anything that he could reach to save himself. In back of him were a few wires to stop him from sliding off the wing, but there were also many large open spaces where there was nothing but the air between him and the ground.

  His hand came into contact with Ned’s sweater and he held on like grim death. Ned himself, however, held a position none too secure, for he had fallen to the rear when the back of his seat had given way. Hoxey turned the controls loose and gave Bill a jerk that brought him forward on the wing. Once again they were safe for a time at least, but an even more violent uncontrolled movement of the plane was yet to give them the crowning thrill of the day.

  When Hoxey turned and caught Bill to keep him from slipping off the lower wing, the airplane made a vertical dive toward the ground. The sudden change in direction of the plane brought Ned back to a sitting position and Bill back to a kneeling position in back of Hoxey’s seat. Ned braced his feet against the foot rest and wrapped his arms around one of the wires crossing in front of his seat. Bill grabbed the brace in back of Hoxey’s seat and hoped that it was stronger than the one which had given way so unexpectedly a few seconds before.

  Hoxey caught the controls almost as soon as the plane went into the dive, but not before it had plunged vertically downward for almost a hundred feet. He worked frantically with the controls to level it out again. Bill looked down and the plane was headed directly toward a clump of very high trees. It seemed ages before Hoxey regained control and brought the plane out of the dive. When they were flying on a level keel again, Hoxey turned and smiled encouragingly at his passengers. He then gazed intently at Bill to ascertain how he was holding on. Then, after seeing that Ned had a firm hold onto the brace wires, he motioned for Bill to grasp Ned’s belt with his free hand. Once again the conditions were such that the flight could be continued, provided that the passengers were willing.

  Bill was scared, but hoped that he did not show it. He smiled at Ned, but had a feeling that it had been a sickly smile. Finally he had sufficient courage to look down at the ground again and there saw groups of people who had evidently been running toward the place where it was thought that the plane would crash. Automobiles were speeding along the roads toward the clump of trees from all directions. When the plane had been brought out of its dive, the men running on the ground stopped where they were and now looked up at it. Bill could see their upturned faces.

  It occurred to Bill that theirs must have been a miraculous escape, for obviously the people on the ground had rushed toward the plane believing that there was no possible chance of the occupants of the plane surviving the fall. The near accident must have furnished a far greater thrill to the people on the ground than it did to the passengers in the plane. Hoxey knew at all times what was happening, Bill and Ned thought that they knew, but the observers on the ground could only conjecture what had taken place.

  Hoxey turned and Bill, seeing that his lips were moving, knew that Hoxey was talking, but what was he saying? The roar of the engine drowned all sounds save its own. Bill shook his head, he could not hear. Hoxey made motions with his hand. First he pointed to the watch hanging on the strut, then down to the ground, and finally, after a pause, made a circle with his hand upward. Bill surmised that he was being asked if he wanted to land or to continue the flight. He looked at the watch. They had been up almost an hour. Hoxey would undoubtedly keep on flying if the passengers were willing. Bill wondered if he could hang on for another hour. If he could they would probably break the record.

  Bill glanced at Ned, who was pointing up into the air and shaking his head “Yes.” That decided Bill. If Ned could last the flight out with his arms wrapped around the wires, there was no reason why he couldn’t hang on to Ned’s belt and stick it out, too. It seemed to Bill that it had taken hours for him to make his decision, whereas actually it had taken but a very few seconds. He cautiously released one hand, made a circular motion upward and nodded his head “Yes.” Hoxey said something which Bill understood to be “That’s the stuff.”

  The air became smoother after that last violent bump which had come so near to wrecking them. It was a little rough, but not uncomfortably so. Bill was glad of this, for his position in the plane was somewhat precarious to say the least. He was holding on with one hand through Ned’s belt and the other through the brace in back of Hoxey’s seat. It was a most uncomfortable position, but he had made up his mind to stick it out and his decision was final. No one was ever going to have the opportunity of saying that he was a quitter.

  After they had made another wide circle around the field, Bill looked at the watch. It had been but ten minutes since the mishap. Time was dragging terribly. However, he had recovered from his fright and was taking an interest again in the ever changing scenes which were passing beneath them.

  The sun was sinking in the sky and the shadows were getting longer. Areas under trees and bushes on the eastward side of buildings had grown much darker, so dark in fact that it was difficult to penetrate them with the eye. He found it harder to pick up individual people on the ground. Here and there the wind shield of an automobile was set at just the right angle to reflect the sun into their faces. Although blinding while they lasted, these reflections were gone in an instant. The water in creeks, ponds and lakes took on a golden hue as it lay between them and the sun, but changed in color to a deep dark blue as it passed beneath the plane. The bumps in the air grew less as the sun sank toward the tree tops and finally disappeared altogether.

  Bill was thoroughly enjoying the flight now in spite of the fact that his legs were almost numb from being in the same position so long. He wanted to move them, but did not dare for fear that he would start slipping again. When he thought of the pain in his legs, he had a desire to look at the watch and see if it wasn’t time to land, but when he thought of this being his first and possibly his only airplane ride, he wished that they still had the full two hours to remain in the air.

  Hoxey held up his hand and opened it twice. Bill then looked at the watch and saw that they had to stay up only ten minutes more to complete the two hours. There seemed to be no reason why they shouldn’t stay up even longer, for the engine was running perfectly and, as far as he was concerned, all danger of his sliding off the plane was gone. He hoped that they would stay up for three hours.

  They flew across the aviation field and Bill saw the upturned faces of the mechanics as they stood in front of the tents. During the first part of their flight other planes had been in the air. Now and again a plane would come close to theirs and the occupants would wave to them, but now it was getting late and the other planes had landed. Some had already been taken into their tents, others he could see being rolled in. How small they all looked! He could hardly realize that the miniature planes on the ground were in reality as large as the one in which he was riding and the mechanics handling them were truly life-sized men.

  Bill figured that with two more t
urns of the field they would have broken the record. He wondered if Hoxey would land at once or stay up longer. This was by far the most pleasant method of traveling that he had ever experienced. It was better than motorcycling in every way. In the air they were not tied down to roads. They could follow any route which their fancy dictated. No wonder that the birds seemed to enjoy themselves so much when soaring overhead. Hills, trees, villages, fences and rivers were all alike when flying. It was possible to go over them or pass around them, whichever the pilot preferred. How different it was from earthbound travel!

  Bill again looked at the watch. Two more minutes and they would probably make a landing. One more turn and they would be headed toward the landing field. Just then the engine sputtered, gave a cough and stopped running. What had happened? Most certainly their flight was now over and they must land, but where and how? Bill did not know whether a plane could be safely landed with a dead engine or not, so he looked at Hoxey. Hoxey was smiling. Everything must be all right.

  “Don’t worry,” shouted Hoxey, and they could hear his voice above the whir of the propellers. “We are out of gasoline, but we will make the field all right.”

  Bill looked for the landing field and it seemed to be miles away. As the ground came closer, he knew that they were losing altitude rapidly. The field was getting closer, too, but there were many high trees between them and that level stretch of ground. Another glance at the watch and Bill saw that they had been up for two hours and one minute. No matter where they landed now, the record had been broken.

  The plane was not losing altitude so fast now, but they were not moving forward so swiftly either. The plane seemed to be gliding down a long hill, but it was a smooth hill, for there were none of the rough spots which threw him about so when coasting on his motorcycle. More than anything else, it was like one of the ethereal trips that he had made in the dreams of his early childhood.